The Maryland Supreme Court has removed Judge April T. Ademiluyi of Prince George’s County circuit judge from the bench, citing “egregious” misconduct in violation of the state’s code of judicial conduct, an extreme and rare move for the state’s high court.
In a per curiam order filed Monday afternoon, the Maryland Supreme Court “concluded that, based on the egregious nature of the misconduct in this case, removal … is the appropriate disposition” for the judge, April T. Ademiluyi.
The high court did not provide reasons for the order, but broadly cited at least a dozen codes Ademiluyi allegedly violated as a Circuit Court judge, involving her behavior with jurors, her impartiality and fairness, her compliance with the law and her cooperation with disciplinary authorities, but it did not offer specific details of the purported misconduct.
In February, the commission unanimously agreed that Ademiluyi committed sanctionable conduct and recommended a censure and six months’ suspension without pay.
Ademiluyi has presided over cases in the county’s circuit court since 2020, when she was elected as a judge by Maryland voters after running a grass-roots campaign.
She has alleged in complaints and court documents that her outsider status drew hostility from her judicial colleagues, creating a working environment that prompted her to file what she said was a whistleblower complaint against her supervisors in 2022.
In a statement, she asserted that her removal from the bench is retaliation for that complaint. After reporting her supervisors to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, they responded with a complaint of their own, alleging misconduct by Ademiluyi in hundreds of pages of documents that the commission and Maryland Supreme Court deemed valid.
Her fellow judges alleged that she behaved inappropriately at the courthouse, including insubordination, unprofessionalism, tardiness and lack of participation in critical judicial training sessions.
“I continue to believe that I did not commit any sanctionable misconduct,” Ademiluyi said in her statement. “It is a disservice to the community for me to be punished for doing the right thing.”
“The entire situation was eroding the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” said Steven B. Vinick, a Prince George’s County defense attorney. “That’s exactly what was happening. It’s like a soap opera. This is the last thing you want to see from the courthouse.”
[Washington Post]
